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Review – That Texas Blood Vol 1

9th July 2021

Review – That Texas Blood Vol 1 Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Chris Condon Artwork: Jacob Phillips Colours: Jacob Philips Cover Artists: Jacob Philips. Variants by Sean Phillips & Duncan Fegredo Publication Design: Sean Phillips Release Date: 13th January 2021 Introduction Reviewing That Texas Blood Vol1 I was struck with how it had me on edge. Four pages of vibrant blood red on the inlay, as we get titles and credits, compounds that feeling of unease. Then a warm introduction to the seemingly mundane life of Sheriff Joe Bob Coates. On the morning of his 70th birthday, he muses with his wife about how he thought he’d feel different. Next he starts the groundwork on the case of reclaiming his wife’s best casserole dish. Everything seems pleasant, a little too pleasant. Witty back and forth between characters gives way to hint at something darker, something animalistic running in the blood of the fictional Ambrose County. Story/Writing That Texas Blood began life as a feature script that Chris Condon was hitting a brick wall in securing funding for. Talking with Lost’n comics , he said he was inspired by how the film Whiplash secured funding based on a short film. Which, was like a miniature version of the final feature film. However, Chris wanted to do a short that was telling a parallel story to his intended feature and not a condensed version of it. But funding for that short was still hard to find. Condon commissioned Jacob Phillips to do concept art for the film and loved it. Eventually he opted to make the story as a comic book with Jacob as the artist. Condon has mentioned multiple influences leading him to write That Texas Blood. Shakespeare, North by Northwest and Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series are actively referenced in the book. The X-files and the connected work of Stephen King, are strong structural influences as That Texas Blood is an anthology series. After our introduction to Sheriff Joe Bob in ‘The Casserole Dish’, we meet Los Angeles-based writer Randy Terrill. Randy is returning to Ambrose County after the sudden and mysterious death of his brother. This story stretches out from issue two to issue six and is subtitled, ‘A Brother’s Conscience’. Randy seems at first to be quite mild mannered and unassuming like Joe Bob. But Randy is more in line with the story told in issue one than its main character, we start to see darker elements emerge in him too, in parallel to them developing in the plot. Texas itself and the stories Condon associated with it were another influence. The expansive landscape gave him the idea that anything could happen and he has baked that sense of hanging anticipation into That Texas Blood. When the quieter and easier going moments are broken up, they are done so in shocking fashion and the choices made give you no reassurance that you can expect what’s coming next. Review – That Texas Blood Vol 1 continues below Art In a youtube interview with Angelo Callazo, titled ‘From Screenplay to Comic’ ; Chris broke down the journey from screenplay to comic script to comic page. A scene involving a snake is highlighted, in the original screenplay with production costs in mind, Chris wrote it so that a real snake and snake wrangler wouldn’t be required on set. They could bring the snake alive off screen with the use of sound effects. This idea carried to the comic and you don’t really see the snake, it’s out of shot. Jacob then omitted the sound effects so that the visuals could tell the story. Condon mentioned many other similar instances throughout the book, stressing that both the writing and the art of the book were a collaboration. He’d suggest the shot types for the panels or pictures for Jacob to reference, Jacob would do as was laid out or he’d ‘fiddle’ with ideas reframing them and shaping their telling. Chris said he gave all script pages to Jacob with the idea that he could change whatever he wanted. Jacob Phillips’ artwork is reminiscent of that of his father, Sean Phillips. It makes sense. He took an interest in his father’s work from a young age, learned under him and did his first professional work with him. Jacob likes to reference what he draws and you can see it in the work. There’s authenticity to the figures and settings. In the detailing and colouring of the book, Jacob uses a scribble like marker effect that features prominently. It depicts the lights and shadows at play in most scenes, giving a sense of subsurface scattering. Sometimes it adds texture to surfaces, representing glass here, grass there. It can be used for wistful clouds in one scene, or to convey the dead heat on the freeway in the next. Beautifully emotive colouring is rich on the page. We see so many shades of day and night, light and shadow. Flashes of red denote anger or violence, the colour’s vibrancy jumps in scenes where moods flare or metaphorical imagery is introduced. Alternatively backgrounds are white and blank to focus us on the action. There’s a lot of variation in all of the above and a lot to love about the art of this book. Overall Thoughts So in reviewing That Texas Blood Vol1 … it’s great, go get it. Everything’s done tremendously well. It’s funny, warm, smart, shocking and exciting. An exceptional opening book for both writer and artist. They compliment each other very well. I look forward to hearing both their names in the future but especially when they’re in the same breath. That Texas Blood is continuing as an ongoing series. If you enjoyed our Review of That Texas Blood Vol 1 then please leave a comment or your own rating below. [yasr_multiset setid=1] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1] Check out BGCP’s new list of Scottish Comic Shops to see if they have a copy of That Texas Blood Vol 1 in stock and buy local Buy tickets for BGCP

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Review – You Look Like Death – Tales from The Umbrella Academy

4th February 2026

Review – You Look Like Death – Tales from The Umbrella Academy Writers: Gerard Way and Shaun Simon Art: I.N.J Culbard Publisher: Dark Horse Comics You look like Death If you haven’t heard of The Umbrella Academy, what rock have you been living under? It’s the wacky and wild tale about 7 of 43 super-powered babies born on the same morning. Whose mothers had no idea they were pregnant. These special 7 are adopted by Billionaire Industrialist and extraterrestrial Sir Reginald Hargreaves. They are given numbers rather than names by their adoptive father and taught to be a “family” of Heroes. Also there is a massive Netflix show which is brilliantly cast. One of said cast members who plays the lead character in this particular comic, is Robert Sheehan who plays Klaus or number 4 and gives a great description of his character in the introduction of this book. You Look Like Death is the first Umbrella Academy spin off and focuses on Klaus. He has seance abilities allowing him to talk to the dead and amalgamate his body with their spirit, taking on their abilities. What’s it all about? After a falling out at home, in the Umbrella Academy mansion, Klaus leaves to find his own way. He is broke and in need of his fix, his drugs, which allow him to go into the Void. The Void to me seems like a waiting room for heaven or hell where the ghosts learn to accept their death. After a ruckus at the drug dealers, Klaus finds himself in Hollywood making dollar for his talents. He is picked up by an agent who isn’t all she seems. He has a vampire drug lord chasing his tail. Not to mention the vast array of ghostly figures that make an appearance to help and hinder his progress to stardom. All of which, for Klaus is just a means to an end, in order for him to get his drugs. Klaus, actually being a really good guy, but reluctantly, soon uncovers a murder mystery. He manages to get hired by Hollywood’s controllers. Fends off a vampire drug Lord and gets vengeance for murder victims. Klaus manages to do all this, whilst being totally resistant to doing anything at all and on a plethora of drugs. You can almost hear him sighing! Writing and Art It is a great collection, a nice, easy read, but intelligent and challenging enough to keep the reader involved. Especially in its questioning of perceived human nature, often found in comic books to be just black and white. Let’s face it in real life there isn’t just good and bad. As a result, the writers have done a great job of creating multicoloured and multi dimensional characters. Ones that have a little of everything human nature can provide, even in the monsters! The Art work is very good. I liked at the end they showed their process of developing one of the characters with old Hollywood glamour. Over all it was a bit dark, gloomy and angsty, which for the majority of the time suited the subject. But I think, personally, the best art was often the really simple stuff, to be found between the pages. These had an almost 3D effect, like the green and red glasses gave you from the 90’s. The colour choice reflected this kind of throw back too. It just caught the eye so much, I just loved the effect Final thoughts Overall, it’s a good read and one that throws you straight back into the world of the Umbrella Academy. It was a good choice of character for the first spin off. Klaus is probably one of the most likeable characters, with his rogue like fashions and reluctance to do anything. But he always seems to make the right choice anyway, like he can’t fight his own nature. Which just makes him very loveable even if he can’t see it in himself. The volume fits together nicely and is well worth the read. The at times psychedelic art is fitting for the type of story we soo. find ourselves embroiled in.

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